Entertainment

No madness at 'Mad Friday'

By NATHELIE TAYLOR, STAR Writer

FOR AN EVENT that was scheduled to be filled with mad music, mad vibes and create mad fun, 'Mad Friday' turned out to be rather sane.

The party, held last Friday night at Weekenz Bistro and Bar on Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, never attained an iota of insanity due solely to extremely poor patronage.

Unlike recent events held at the venue, Friday night's party bordered dangerously on boredom. Patrons trickled in slowly throughout the night, but nowhere close to a full capacity was attained. Almost in an attempt to 'save face', the management of the venue was quick to point out that 'Mad Friday' was not one of Weekenz's events. On the flip side, organisers of the party Xxtreme.com said the event was low budget and admitted that the party's failing was caused primarily by late promotion. Actually, a member of the Xxtreme team admitted that promotion had only begun last Wednesday, so the poor support was to be expected.

Regardless of the low turnout, Coppershot (one of the two discos slated for the night, the other being Epidemik) did their job well. They kept the small gathering well entertained as they played the hottest hip hop and dancehall tunes.

Rocked mild

Unfazed by the lack of patrons, Coppershot released hit after hit which got some of the few patrons present rocking mildly to their favourite songs. Among Coppershot's appreciated selections were Elephant Man's Online, Sean Paul's Like Glue, Mardi Gras by Joe Budden, Tanto Metro and Devonte, Fiesta by R. Kelly and Missy Elliott's 1 Minute Man.

Each song was played for a good enough length and without the many 'pull-ups' and incessant chatter featured at other events. The selectors also threw in, for good measure, a number of 'exclusive Coppershot tunes' - remixes of popular dancehall songs redone by artistes like Bounty Killer and Vybz Kartel for the disco itself.

At about 1:15 a.m., a number of patrons who had been there for less than an hour left with a disappointed look on their faces. A few more patrons drifted in sometime after 1:30 and they were obviously surprised to see the almost empty venue.

Around this same time, two male patrons attempted to inject some life into the party. As the selectors dropped Bubba Sparx's Ugly, the young men started to Blase, which they carried over into Missy's Get Your Freak On. They then started doing a toned-down version of the Crazy Hype dance, but their enthusiasm was soon curbed. By 1:35 a.m. there was no dancing, no madness and not many patrons with no immediate signs of change.